A Pinecrest family is coming home from vacation to find their home destroyed by a fire.
Firefighters responded to the home on 120th Street and 73rd Avenue after neighbors noticed the fire at around 11:30 p.m. Friday, just as they were about to ring in the new year.
Virginia Domes, who says she works for the family who lives there, tells NBC 6 that she left the house at around 4 p.m. and got a call from her boss right before midnight.
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“She asked me if I was at the house and I told her no…and she’s like ‘the house is on fire’ and I said oh my gosh,” Domes said. “Thank God nobody was home, and it’s just material things that you can get any time.”
Neighbors believe the house fire started outside and made its way into the home, eventually reaching the attic.
Neighbor Alberto Luna says he heard a loud popping noise.
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“Around 11:40, we heard like a loud thump and didn’t think much else about it,” Luna said.
He says when he heard the sound again, he came outside.
“I just saw the whole roof on the backside of the house on fire and I was like ‘oh my God,’”
he said. “I couldn’t believe it.”
Domes says she’s heard from the family since the fire and they’re making their way home.
“It’s like, shocking,” Domes said. “You’re on vacation, and to get this kind of news is nothing nice.”
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
A table was set up in the neighborhood Saturday and quickly started filling up with items to be donated to the family.
“I just wanted to help out a fellow neighbor, try and do my part,” neighbor Tony Briggs said.
